Sunday, 26 July 2015

It would appear that the traditional British summer rain has hit today so the light in the house is appalling enough to hamper any real hobby stuff. With that said, I thought I'd get in an early blog post today, in the vain hope that things cheer up and I can get back on my hobby horse a bit later.

This week has been a bit random again. Monday was our families day so I went and had a potter around the airfield, watched a few air displays and generally soaked up the atmosphere. Because it was on a Monday, things seemed a bit more low key this year... but it was an entertaining day.

Thursday my little team went on our annual summer do... this year it was messing around on boats on the Thames. Here is my little team:

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Here is me relaxing with a drink whilst everyone else is occupied:

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And here's me jumping into the Thames (for the third time) from the top of the boat:

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I was in good hands, there was a sober bloke on board who had everything under control. It was an excellent way to spend the day.

...although it did show me that I may need to loose that chubby tummy!

So... hobby wise, I have had a week of this and that. Mainly, I have been working on the secret project and I reckon in a couple of weeks, I'll be able to reveal all. In addition to that, I decided to bite the bullet and buy some Brock Riders from Mantic Games. They quickly arrived and here are five of the creatures assembled, ready for filling and conversion work:

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These are all identical. The second five are also identical but of a slightly different design (so I'll have five of each). They are made from Mantic 'restic' which takes a lot of effort to clean up so I have stopped at five for now so that I don't get de-motivated. Once the ten are complete, they will form a Rough Rider unit for support of the third platoon.

In order to keep things ticking along, I need to be happy that what I have already made is legal and up to my standards. Unfortunately, I have two issues. First, my three Sentinels have got heavy bolters and they aren't allowed to have them in the rules. Secondly, my Exo squad has hammers instead of terminator weapons so it needs to be changed. In a bid to sort things out, I have ordered some howitzers and chain glaives from Anvil industries to upgrade the Sentinels with autocannons and the Exo squad with chainfists. While I was in an ordering mood, I also bought some more armature wire and some aluminium rods for the Brock Rider lances. The riders that came withe the Brocks are massive and were never going to be used so I have been selecting plastic Squats together for the conversion work to begin. It should be entertaining as I plan to make them a little bit feral and berserk.

Well... I think that is about it for today. What this coming week has to offer, I can't say but hopefully something interesting will occur!

Sunday, 19 July 2015

Before I start I'd like to welcome Amy Clark and Ariel El vikingo dark to Inso's World. Welcome to you both and I hope that you enjoy your stay. Please feel free to comment on anything you see fit and share your thoughts.

So...this week has been a bit up and down. Humid weather, lack of motivation, itchy tattoos, family stuff... it all takes a toll on the hobby. Fortunately, this week, I took a day off work to do some sculpting and managed to acheive something; the command squad for the second platoon of Squats:

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It isn't much but it is another completed squad for the army. Since the picture was taken, I have added an aerial (made from a sewing pin) to the comms trooper so he can actually be spotted easier. In addition to the command squad, I have been working on the secret project and also a little bit on the next Beastman primaris psyker. The Psyker will be continuing the Jedi theme... but may well be a little darker... Hmmm... when I get to a point when I have something to show off, you will see what I mean.

In other hobby news, I have been sorting out my box of plastic squats and have discovered that I have enough components to make a further 115 troops. That doesn't include the 66 that are already finished/WIP (1 and 2 platoons, the engineseer and a few tester troopers) so I am getting very close to the 200 mark. The good thing about this is that I have lots of complete arm sprues that I won't be using so they will be hitting EBay at some point... yes... I am going to be mercenary and ask for similar prices that I have seen on there (it will help me claw back some of the money I have spent on all these Squats).

Yesterday, I went to see Ant Man, with my wife. Without spoiling things, I thought it was a great little film, filled with humour, some good characters and just the right amount of 'jeopardy' to make it exciting. I am surprised that it got a 12A cert because I have seen more grown up films with a lower rating. There is a bit after the credits which sort of ties things up a bit... but you'll have to see it to find out what it is. A very nice little film with a few links to the Avengers. Well worth going to see. The 3D was subtle too so there wasn't a huge amount of blurriness you sometimes get.

At the moment, I am working on the Primaris Beastman, the first infantry squad for the second platoon and the secret project so hopefully, by next week, I may have some finished stuff to show off.

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Before I start today's post, I'd like to welcome Suber to Inso's World. Welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy your travels around the world and comment when you see fit.

This week has been an odd one.

A few weeks ago, my daughter turned 18 and she decided that she would like to go and get a tattoo. She arranged to go with her brother because he also wanted ink... but alas, he had some very valid reasons not to go so I agreed to go along with her. For some reason, my mouth then went into overdrive and I agreed to have a daddy/daughter tattoo of the design of her choice. So this weekend, we went and shared some quality time together in the tatttoo parlour and this is what happened:

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As you can see, I was lucky that it wasn't Hello Kitty or something like that. It also highlights my impetuous attitude to life. Sometimes, I just go and do stuff and deal with the backlash afterwards. I never regret doing this (even when I have trouble as a result) but sometimes, I wish that I would spend a few minutes thinking before I go and say stuff.

I think this little episode is just a response to the huge life changes I am in the process of making. As many of you will be aware, I am a serviceman in the Royal Air Force. Well, last week, I turned down my promotion to Flight Sergeant. This is with a future career change in mind. At the moment, nothing is set in stone but one thing is for sure... changes are on the way! As and when things happen, I will share them here. For the time being I hope to just stay at my job and continue working hard for the Puma 2 programme.

So... that's life... what about the hobby? Well... first of all I have finished off the heavy weapon squad for the first platoon of Squats:

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I put the pix up on the forums this week and got some comments about the arms... so I have altered them slightly since the picture was taken and have addressed most of the issues (spindly arms on the raised arm troopers). The squad has now been added to the first platoon which is now complete and looks like this:

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We have the Sentinels at the back, the heavy weapon squad, 2 infantry squads and the command squad at the front. That is all I want to do on the first platoon apart from vehicles (but I have plans for those that are rumbling along in the background; slowly gathering momentum). I have now started on the second platoon's command squad. Here is where I am at:

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I think I may need to shorten a couple of arms... You'll also notice the lovely little radio set on the back of the comms trooper. I got it from Mad Robot as part of a pack of 5. The one shown is the command version.

In other news... I have managed to get even more plastic Squats so I will be taking stock again and seeing what can be achieved with them.

Sunday, 5 July 2015

One thing that an amateur sculptor needs in order to sculpt, is putty. I have lots of it but it seems that the environmental conditions have caused it to rebel! It has not been mixing properly and won't stick to what I want it to and I blame my sweaty hands and humid weather.

So progress this week has been frustratingly slow... especially seeing as I have been itching to sculpt.

Anyway... moaning aside, yesterday saw my initial efforts with the Age of Sigmar miniature and I threw the image out there for feedback... and I got more than I was comfortable with... so a rethink was called for. I scratched my head and ripped a few bits off... and came up with this:

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It is still very much a work in progress... that means that the head, fist, polearm and cape will not necessarily look like that when I have finished. I feel that I need to point that out because, quite frankly, some of the comments that have been made appear to have been made in the belief that it was finished. I particularly enjoyed all the suggestions to buy bits and glue them on. Why on earth would I do that when I can just use what I have and sculpt what I need to? Anyway... deep breath... it is still progressing and should look nice when finished. It is very likely to be a one-off and may well end up for sale when it is finished...

Work continues (slowly) on the secret project but when I haven't been working on that or the Adeptus Custode, I have been working on my Squat heavy weapon squad (plus I've started the second Primaris Beastman). Here's my little WIP tray:

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I am really keen to get some work in on these... but it all depends on the weather.

Well... that's about it for today. I have more sculpting to be getting on with.

Saturday, 4 July 2015

Games Workshop has decided that now is the time to revamp the Warhammer Fantasy game by... well to be honest... completely changing almost everything about it.

They have renamed it Warhammer Age of Sigmar, have renamed most of the races, completely changed the rules and have even gone as far as changing the bases of the miniatures from square to round.

There has been a huge backlash on-line from die hard fans and, to be honest, I can understand why... but it isn't all bad.

The rules are free.

There are additional rules for existing armies as free downloads.

There are some cool new miniatures on the way.

There is a whole new flood of fluff to join the release.

Some of the new rules are hysterically funny.

So... for many years, people have been complaining that the corporate side of Games Workshop had ruined the fun of the games. Well they can't say that any more because some of the rules mean that you have to issue war cries in order to get bonuses, compare moustaches, and even moan about the youth of today in order to get bonuses for the troops on the table. In some instances, you have to actually be seen to talk to your troops for the bonuses to work!

I for one am tempted to watch a gaming session just to laugh as the players have to raise a fist to the air and shout "WAR!" in as menacing a voice as possible; in order to claim the bonus!

Maybe, GW are on to something?

Anyway... I have been and bought White Dwarf for the first time in ages so that I could get my hand on the miniature stuck to the front of it. Here is what I got:

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The miniature came in a very well made plastic blister that was obviously made to measure and once popped from the packet, it was very obvious that it was a single pose miniature. Quality is excellent (as you should expect from GW) and very little clean up was required. It was annoying that the sprue attaches on the shoulders right on the motif but if you are careful, it shouldn't be a problem to clean up. Here is an assembled picture (not cleaned up and held together with blu-tack):

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As you can see, this particular miniature is big BUT I think that is because it is a posessed suit of armour filled with the souls of champions... so it is probably supposed to be larger than a human. It is not coincidence that I have pictured the miniature next to a marine because, when I first saw the new Sigmar miniatures, I immediately thought of Space Marines... and there is nothing like putting your money where your mouth is: